City wants state probe of fatal police shooting
San Leandro officials concerned over black man’s death
City leaders in San Leandro plan to ask the state attorney general’s office to conduct an investigation into the death of a black man fatally shot by police in April.
Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter said officials formally decided to make the request Monday during a City Council meeting after considering the idea for two to three weeks.
Police shot and killed 33yearold Steven Taylor on April 18 inside a Walmart after he allegedly threatened two officers with a bat. The officers deployed their Tasers and one officer fired a single gunshot. Video of the incident spread on social media and drew numerous accusations of excessive force.
“We are listening to the community,” Cutter said. “The community is saying they want an independent investi
gation.”
City Manager Jeff Kay said the council directed him to write the letter to the office of Attorney General Xavier Becerra, and he expects it will be sent out “by the end of the week.”
“There have been calls for an additional independent investigation of the shooting,” Kay said. “The city and the City Council are comfortable doing so.”
The attorney general’s office said in a statement that it was “aware of the matter” but had not yet received the formal request.
If the office opens a probe, it will mark the fourth investigation into the death on top of an ongoing administrative investigation, a criminal investigation by San Leandro police and the Alameda County district attorney’s office’s independent investigation.
Cutter said she and other city officials decided it was important to listen to the people in the community who did not consider the prosecutors’ investigation to be independent.
“I need to listen, and I need to learn and make sure that we are progressing and moving forward together,” Cutter said.
A spokeswoman for District Attorney Nancy O’Malley said local prosecutors have “no objection” to a review by the attorney general’s office.
The officer who fired his gun remains on administrative leave while the other has returned to work, Cutter said. Neither has been identified.
Police Chief Jeff Tudor told The Chronicle his department sent the findings of one probe to prosecutors, who would conduct their own independent investigation. An administrative investigation remains active, he said, but he supported an additional inspection from the state attorney general’s office.
“We welcome all investigations into this matter,” Tudor said.
An autopsy performed by the Alameda County coroner’s bureau found Taylor’s preliminary cause of death to be a single gunshot wound to his chest.
In a video posted on Twitter after the incident, Tudor pledged that the Police Department would be “as transparent as possible.”
An attorney representing Taylor’s family disputed the department’s statement that a stun gun did not minimize the threat Taylor posed.
“At some point in this exchange, the officers’ behavior became criminal — namely when the suspect was disarmed,” said S. Lee Merritt, a Philadelphiabased civilrights attorney.
Councilman Victor Aguilar Jr., who seconded the motion to request a probe by state prosecutors, said he hopes the attorney general’s office investigates the shooting of Taylor and determines and
“The community is saying they want an independent investigation.” San Leandro Mayor Pauline Russo Cutter
provides a statement on whether criminal charges should or should not be brought against the officers involved.
“I want the public to know that we hear them, and that for some, having the District Attorney investigate is not a direction they want this to go,” Aguilar said in a statement. “I am deeply saddened by the event that transpired. My condolences go out to the Taylor family.”
City officials on Thursday made a series of pledges in a letter to the community, including plans to form a community advisory committee and engage in “difficult but necessary conversations about equity, race, privilege and injustice.”
“The killing of George Floyd is just the latest reminder of the systemic racism that plagues our society,” officials wrote in the letter. “It is also painfully clear that San Leandro is not immune or isolated from nationwide issues. We recognize that the officerinvolved shooting of Steven Taylor brings the issue home. Our hearts are with the Taylor family and all those who have been impacted.”